2019 Film Festival

The theme for the 2019 Venice Buddhist Film Festival is “Troubling Times.” The Film Festival will run on four consecutive Sundays, March 3 through March 24, starting at 12 noon at the Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple.

Light refreshments will be available and a short discussion will follow each film. Cost is free, donations gladly accepted. For more information about the Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Film Festival, contact Richard Modiano or Judy Hopfield.

March 3

Why Not? (Eijanaika) (Japan, 1981)

Near the turbulent end of the Edo era, Genji (Izumiya Shigeru)returns to Japan after exile in America and searches for his wife Ine (Mamoi Kauori) where becomes swept up in the current of revolution in this incisive period drama from the great director Imamura Shohei.

March 10

Matewan (USA 1987)

In 1920, Joe Kennahan (Chris Cooper), a former Industrial Workers of the World member, is sent by the United Mine Workers to Matewan, West Virginia, to organize the miners into the union. Kennahan has to achieve solidarity among the multi-ethnic and multi-racial workers. Additionally, he is plagued by the underhanded activities of a company spy and by a detective agency hired by the company to thwart his organizing efforts.

March 17

Battle of Algiers (Italy-Algeria, 1964)

In October 1957, Ali la Pointe, a leader of the Algerian FLN (Front de Liberation Nationale), is trapped by the French in his house in the Casbah. He reflects back to the time 3 years earlier in 1954 when he became involved in the struggle for freedom.

March 24

Salvador (USA, 1986)

Veteran photojournalist Richard Boyle (James Woods) has been taking his camera to the world’s trouble spots for over 20 years. While he does good work, Boyle’s colossal arrogance has given him a reputation that’s left him practically unemployable. Broke and with no immediate prospects, Boyle and his buddy, Doctor Rock (Jim Belushi), an out-of-work disc jockey, head to El Salvador, where Boyle is convinced that he can scrounge some lucrative freelance work amidst the nation’s political turmoil.